Live Updates: Israeli bombs kill many Palestinians in Khan Younis, Deir Belah

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

04:38 GMT - Israel considers flooding Gaza tunnels with seawater - WSJ

Israel has assembled a large system of pumps that may be used to flood tunnels used by resistance group Hamas under besieged Gaza in a bid to drive out fighters, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials.

Around the middle of November, Israel's army completed the set-up of at least five pumps about a mile north of the Al Shati refugee camp that could move thousands of cubic meters of water per hour, flooding the tunnels within weeks, the report said.

It was not clear whether Israel would consider using the pumps before all captives were released, according to the story. Hamas has previously said it has hidden captives in "safe places and tunnels."

04:00 GMT - Palestine Red Crescent loses contact with its teams in Gaza

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has said that it lost contact with its medical teams in besieged Gaza.

The statement came after the Palestine Telecommunications Company [PalTel] said that all communication and internet services in besieged Gaza have been completely cut off.

"We completely lost contact with the operations room of the Gaza Strip and with all our teams in light of the Israeli cutting of the telecommunications networks," the Red Crescent said in the statement.

03:19 GMT - Israeli forces kill 2 Palestinians in southern occupied West Bank

The Israeli army has killed two Palestinians in the southern occupied West Bank.

Anas al Farroukh, 23, and Mohammad al Farroukh, 22, both suffered severe injuries before being pronounced dead at a hospital, the official WAFA news agency reported, citing a statement from the Palestinian Health Ministry.

WAFA added that the incident took place in the Ras Al Aroud area of the town of Sa'ir northwest of the city of Hebron.

02:31 GMT - Israeli army denies telling WHO to empty aid warehouse in southern Gaza

The Israeli army has denied telling the World Health Organization to empty an aid warehouse in southern besieged Gaza within 24 hours before ground operations in the area render it unusable.

"The truth is that we didn't ask you to evacuate the warehouses, and we also made it clear (and in writing) to the relevant #UN representatives," the Israeli Defence Ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, COGAT, said on X, formerly Twitter.

"From a #UN official, we would expect, at least, to be more accurate," it added.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X: "Today, WHO received notification from the Israel Defense Forces that we should remove our supplies from our medical warehouse in southern Gaza within 24 hours, as ground operations will put it beyond use".

For our live updates from Monday (December 4), click here.